At Mach 6, the SR-72 can cut across radar fields of view so quickly that establishing a continuous track becomes nearly impossible.
In the new global arms race between the United States, China, and Russia (and their respective allies), the Americans have found themselves on the back foot against Moscow and Beijing in several key domains—most notably hypersonic weapons. But Lockheed Martin thinks it has an ace up its sleeve: the SR-72 “Son of Blackbird,” or, more simply, the “Darkstar.”
Featured in the most recent Top Gun sequel, and hinted at in the media for years, this hypersonic plane can exceed Mach 6 (4,600 miles per hour). And the plane is not only a surveillance platform, as its predecessor, the legendary SR-71 “Blackbird,” was; the Air Force wants to give it strike capabilities as well.
Understanding America’s Threat Environment
China and Russia now have a real challenger in the hypersonic domain from the Americans. After more than a decade of leading the United States by the nose on this issue, Lockheed might have finally come up with something innovative.
Whether or not America’s ailing defense industrial base can build enough of these experimental systems in a timely manner—in the numbers required—remains to be seen. But the plane is a step in the right direction—and, for the first time in a while, both Moscow and Beijing are clearly worried about its impact.
Unlike other systems which feature stealth as its primary advantage, the key element making the SR-72 such a threat to America’s enemies is its hypersonic capability. On paper, Lockheed Martin’s plane has the ability to reach Mach 6 (4,450 mph)—nearly double the top speed of the original Blackbird.
That speed allows for the SR-72 to traverse vast distances rapidly, potentially crossing continents in under an hour. For China and Russia, this capability translates into drastically reduced reaction time to respond to US military operations featuring this aircraft.
The SR-72 Is America’s Gamechanger
Back in the heady days of the Cold War, the SR-71’s Mach 3.3 speed made it virtually impervious to the then-cutting edge air defenses of the Eastern Bloc. Today, the SR-72 takes that advantage further, leveraging a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine that integrates traditional jet propulsion for takeoff with a scramjet for hypersonic flight.
This propulsion system enables the SR-72 to operate across a wide range of speeds and altitudes, making it difficult for even the most advanced Russian or Chinese air defense network to reliably track and intercept.
Plus, the SR-72’s advanced materials, such as carbon-carbon composites, address the thermal challenges of hypersonic flight, allowing it to withstand the extreme heat at altitudes above 80,000 feet. These technological advancements ensure the SR-72 can operate in environments where conventional aircraft or even missiles struggle.
For China and Russia, which are investing heavily in their own hypersonic technologies, the SR-72’s superior speed and material resilience signal that the United States is finally getting competitive in the ongoing hypersonic arms race.
The SR-72 Can Overcome China & Russia’s A2/AD Systems
On the other side of the SR-72 are China’s and Russia’s advanced air defense platforms, which have dogged American defense planners for years—especially in the area of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD). Russia’s S-400 and S-500, along with China’s HQ-9 and HQ-10 air defense platforms, are designed to specifically counter stealth aircraft and intercept high-speed targets. These systems employ advanced radar networking and digital tracking to maintain continuous target locks across vast distances, making them highly effective against conventional aircraft at almost any sub-hypersonic speed.
The SR-72’s hypersonic speed and stealth features, however, combine to form a potentially lethal mix that may prove too much for even the most advanced Russian and Chinese AD systems to handle. At the speeds Lockheed is talking about, the SR-72 will likely be able to outrun these newer Chinese and Russian defenses.
At Mach 6, the SR-72 can cut across radar fields of view so quickly that establishing a continuous track becomes nearly impossible. Thus, SR-72’s ability to outfly many surface-to-air missiles, combined with those radar-defying features that the SR-72’s hypersonic capabilities confer upon the dynamic new bird, means Chinese and Russian (and, therefore, Iranian or North Korean) interception attempts will be stymied.
What’s more, the SR-72’s capacity to carry hypersonic cruise missiles, for example, adds another serious layer of threat to Sino-Russian attempts at air defense. The aircraft’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities provide unparalleled real-time intelligence, enabling the Americans to monitor Chinese naval activities in the Pacific or Russian troop movements in Eastern Europe with unprecedented speed and precision.
This intelligence can then be shared with advanced platforms, like the Trump administration’s boondoggle, the sixth-generation warplane now known as the F-47 (in fact, the priority should be to develop as many SR-72s as possible and arm them to the teeth since deep-range strikes are the key to modern combat).
The SR-72 is the next leap in US airpower. It will be far more important than the F-47, the hypothetical “F-55,” or even the vaunted B-21 Raider—all of which are far too expensive and complex to be mass-produced affordably or in a timely manner.
How Might China and Russia Respond to the Darkstar?
Of course, in 2025 and beyond, America will find itself in an increasingly contested environment by two major rivals—China and Russia—that enjoy key technological as well as manufacturing advantages over the financialized and under-resourced American defense industrial base. Since China and Russia both already have sophisticated hypersonic weapons capabilities, their capability to develop countermeasures with their hypersonic missiles is significant.
And since the SR-72 is not slated to enter service until the 2030s, either China or Russia may develop artificial intelligence-driven or quantum-computing-enhanced hypersonic interceptors by that time that are capable of tracking, anticipating the flight paths of the SR-72, and knocking these advanced American birds down.
What’s more, the SR-72’s thermal signature which is an inherent byproduct of its Mach 6 speed, will be detected by sophisticated sensors of the kind that China and Russia both have (and are continuing to develop).
There are some who think the SR-72 should be scrapped in favor of mass-producing cheaper and easier to replace subsonic drones such as the RQ-180. The preference should be, though, for both the development of more drones and the SR-72. Even a handful of the SR-72s, combined with drone launching capabilities from the SR-72, could prove decisive in any near-peer conflict.
Regardless of what the naysayers argue, if the money must be spent, let it be spent on the SR-72 as opposed to more wasteful and less useful projects. America is failing in the ongoing arms race. The SR-72 might be the silver bullet the United States needs to keep up.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock.
